A blog for eaters

Archive for the tag “taco shop”

Outstanding sopes are now on the menu at Mi Ranchito in Ramona, CA! A sope is a traditional Mexican dish originating in the central and southern parts of Mexico. The base is made from a circle of fried masa, roughly the size of an ashtray, that looks like an unusually thick tortilla. It’s topped with a variety of ingredients, typically beans, a protein, lettuce, salsa, cheese, crema, etc.

There is no better way to say “te quiero” to amá on Mother’s Day than with a wet burrito from Mananas Mexican Food! I’ve been eating burritos here for years and have never had a bad one. I love a good wet burrito and finally tried their interpretation this morning; it was outstanding!

Any of Mañana’s burritos can be ordered “wet”. I chose a simple beef burrito, only $6.15. It was huge! Filled with a ton of tender, seasoned shredded beef. Also a few onions and peppers. No cheap fillers like beans, rice or lettuce, not that there’s anything wrong with that. Making it “wet” adds an extra $2.10. The whole thing is blanketed with a generous amount of their rich, flavorful enchilada sauce, then topped with some cheese.

Service and all was nice as always for me. I particularly appreciate the chips gratis when dining in plus the excellent salsa bar. I noticed this morning that they now have pickled red onions which I dearly adore with Mexican food.

#2 combination plate at Los Amigos in Ramona. Includes enchilada and chile relleno, $10 & change. I requested a beef enchilada and it was decent. I’ll get straight to it though, the chile relleno was terrible.

The egg batter was so thick and doughy it looked like some deep fried state fair monstrosity. A properly battered chile should actually resemble the shape of the chile, not a body pillow. After cutting into a few bites I finally got to the chile. Couldn’t even taste it under the heavy batter blanket. Traditionally a relleno is filled with a queso panela or oaxaca that has a soft creamy texture. When heated it will soften but not lose it’s shape. Here they used the standard taco shop yellow & white shredded blend that didn’t really taste like anything but grease. No ranchero sauce on top either. Just served dry with melted yellow/white blend on top.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of things I like at this taco shop like their barbacoa, salsa bar, carne asada burritos with lettuce, etc. Their chile relleno though was definitely a miss for me tonight.

Had an outstanding breakfast recently at La Cocina! A super delicious chorizo con huevos, served with rice (& beans), a daub of guacamole & pico, and hot tortillas, all on their signature foam plate. $8 & change.

The chorizo here is excellent! Mildly seasoned and not at all greasy, unlike many others I’ve had. If you’ve never had chorizo before, try it. If you ever see a chub of chorizo at the grocery store, do not read the ingredients. Actually just avoid that one and order it the next time you’re at your favorite taqueria.

Outstanding order of rolled tacos recently from Mi Ranchito! Topped with a very tasty creamy guacamole Americano and a liberal amount of shredded cheese. All of it sitting on a bed of fresh looking, shredded iceberg lettuce. Order of 3 base price is $4.15; it wound up being $5 with tax and card fee.

Mi Ranchito rolled tacos are made with ground beef vice shredded beef. Although some may scoff, I actually prefer ground beef in my rolled tacos. Good clean bites every time. At some places the shredded beef is rolled too tightly and I’m always pulling out large slugs of meat with each bite, leaving an unfortunate hollow tortilla tube.

Typically a fan of the flautas at Mi Ranchito, I decided to try their rolled tacos and I’m glad I did!

Outstanding breakfast recently at La Cocina! One of my favorite restaurants in Old Town Ramona. I ordered a machaca plate – served with rice & beans and hot, supple tortillas. If you’ve never had machaca, it’s basically some sort of seasoned shredded beef cooked on the flattop with onions, peppers, tomatoes and eggs. Traditionally a breakfast dish, it can be made into burrito form, or just as a combination plate with tortillas, etc. One of my favorite Mexican dishes.